


How we Deal

by RABNerd28



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), UnDeadwood (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21997123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RABNerd28/pseuds/RABNerd28
Relationships: Miriam Landisman/Arabella Whitlock
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10
Collections: Critmas Exchange 2019





	How we Deal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aunt_zelda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aunt_zelda/gifts).



Miriam didn’t want to leave her room at the hotel. It hurts too much to move, thinking about what had happened the day before with Fog and Clayton...she tried to remove it from her mind, but nothing could. She’d already lost her husband, and so many more people were dead. She didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to go on.

A knock at the door startled her slightly, but other than that she didn’t move. She didn’t think of anyone who could possibly want her outside of that door.

“Mrs. Landisman?” She heard Arabella’s voice on the other side of the door. The voice almost brought a smile to her. The girl having been a comfort in the past few days, since this whole thing started. She didn’t think there was anything she could say or do now to help her. “Miriam. It’s me, Arabella.” She kept quiet. “Please, can you let me in. I’m worried about you.” There was the wiggle of the doorknob, followed by the squeak of the door opening. “Sorry, but you didn’t lock it.”

Miriam pulled the covers over her head, and buried her face into the pillow. “Please leave Arabella. I don’t want to see anyone right now.”

Arabella didn’t leave. A moment later she heard the clack of feet, followed by the pressure changing on the bed. “You need people right now Miriam.” The girl reached out her arm to place it on her shoulder, but Miriam pulled herself away.

“I said I don’t want to see anyone.”

“I think it’s better if you do.”

“Your husband wouldn’t want you to do this, wouldn’t want you to just lie around and do nothing.” Miriam flinched at him being mentioned. It wasn’t a marriage built on love, but they had grown to care deeply for each other, and love in a different way. It hurt to lose that presence in her life. “I don’t think Clayton would either.”

“Don’t mention him!” She sat up and screeched at Arabella, the other woman flinching as she did. Miriam regretted it as soon as she saw her frightened face. “I’m sorry Arabella. I don’t want to think about them.”

“But you clearly are.” Arabella moved herself closer again, moving the blankets around her. “You can’t tell me you’re not.”

“Are you?”

“I’m thinking about my sister, and about Clayton yes.” She looked down at her hands, playing with the wedding band on her finger. “I guess, I just do grief a little different than everyone else.”

“I’ll never forgive Aloyisius for what he did.” She felt her hands shake. She gripped the blanket tight, trying to steady them as much as she could. “He’s still in the hotel, just going about his life like he hadn’t just killed a friend.”

“We’ll figure out what to do about him. Do you think that the creature we saw, that it changed something in him?”

“I don’t care. I can’t forgive him.” Arabella took one of her hands and squeezed it. It helped in its own way. “Where is the Reverend?”

“About taking it as well as you can. I think he’ll need some time before he starts to think about it. Right now, he’s making funeral arrangements.”

“Did he have any family?”

“None that anyone knows about. That’s up to use right now.”

Miriam felt the tears well in her eyes. “He didn’t deserve it.” The shaking in her hands increased, spreading to her arms. “Whatever he did-whatever it was, it was lawless, and unnecessary. He just died in the street, for no reason at all.” The tears overwhelmed her and she started to sob into her hands.

It was a moment before she felt Arabella’s arms wrap around her. Their warmth was a comfort that she didn’t know she needed, but it caused every emotion she’d had since her husband's death to bubble to the surface. The tears and sobbing, she couldn’t stop it. She stayed like that for several minutes, Arabella rocking her and murmuring words of comfort.

She let herself pull away when the tears stopped, wiping the stains away when she did. “I need to freshen up.” She forced herself out of the bed.

“Of course.” Miriam felt Arabella’s eyes on her as she crossed the room to the powder room.

Once inside she splashed some water on her face, and looked to the bath on the side. She remembered hearing one of the saloon maids come in and fill it, and was somehow still warm. She removed her night clothes and stepped in one foot at a time. The warmth enveloped her body. She settled herself for a moment, before taking a deep breath and dipping her head below the water. She stayed down there as long as she could, the silence and the warmth deafening the world for a moment, bringing comfort for that short moment.

She was too focused on herself to hear the sobbing coming from the other side of the door.


End file.
